Here we go!
There have been twenty entries so far, but we are still open if anyone fancies a last-minute go at this.
Seventy-six players have been chosen by our experts, compared with sixty-seven last year, presumably due to the increase from eight to ten-player teams. There have been some clear trends in the players selected, reflecting players" performance at the WSOP and elsewhere. Last year, Hellmuth had the most selections, followed by Negreanu, Selbst and Chidwick. The new big sensation was Danzer. The top four have hardly changed, except that Selbst has been replaced by Mercier. It"s Negreanu and Mercier now getting the most selections, with a gap to Hellmuth and Chidwick.
Then there is a huge change is how you view the next tier of top players. Five out the next eight most selected players this year were chosen by no-one last year. They are led by the new sensation, Urbanovich, of whom great things are expected. Holz, Zinno, Hastings and Gordinsky are all in the top dozen, having been totally ignored before. Danzer has lost a couple of supporters, but still makes the top half-dozen. Other new names receiving more than one selection are Volpe, Bojang, Pescatori, Leah, Rutter, Idema, Nitsche, Radoja, Kanit, Busquet and O"Dwyer.
The biggest rejections by far are of Selbst, from being the third most chosen player last year with thirteen selections, she has only been chosen by four selectors this time, and Ho, down from eight selections last time to just one this year. More of a surprise is that Ashton has only received one selection.
Players who were previously selected, but have been totally ignored by everyone this year, include Ivey, Katchalov, Merson, Bakes, Elky, Cody, Geilich and Glantz.
